The
Research Network on Early Experience and Brain Development was founded
in 1998 to address questions of how the experiences
of early childhood are
incorporated into the structures
of the developing brain, and
how, in turn, those changes in the structures of the brain influence behavior.
The network explores how knowledge of brain development can guide us in
our understanding of behavioral development and vice versa. It focuses
specifically on sensitive periods and neural plasticity, the reciprocal
phenomena whereby (a) the brain is negatively affected if certain
experiences fail to occur within a certain time period, and (b) the
brain is altered by experience at virtually any point in the life span.
Here we consider not only how the structure of experience is
incorporated into the structure of the brain, but also how
this knowledge can influence the decisions we make about intervening in
the lives of children.

The
majority of the Network's research is conducted by Network members. We
do not consider unsolicited proposals. check web DirectoryDirectory Here